Pages

Monday, June 1, 2009

136 Images Later . . .

. . . I've finally found the Mulvaneys! I was expecting to come across them living much closer to the John Mulvaneys than they actually were, though, as addresses aren't listed in the 1865 NYS Census, I don't actually know how far they were away, geographically, just that they were many pages away. The writing on these pages are very faint, so I'll tell you that the Mulvaneys are the second family on the right side of the page. James is listed as 46 and Bridget as 50. Thomas is 11, John is 8, Patrick is 6, Mary Ann is 3, and James is a month old. Bridget says she's the mother of 5 children, so it appears that all of her children are still living at the time. Both parents have been married only once, and James is still a carpenter. He has been naturalized, but Bridget is still an alien. (I'm going to have to do some research on naturalization laws in the nineteenth century; a wife was apparently not automatically naturalized by the fact of her being married to a citizen.)

"On September 22, 1922, Congress enacted a law (42 Stat. 1021) that changed the naturalization procedure for married women. Before that date, women who were married to a U.S. citizen or naturalized citizen automatically became U.S. citizens by reason of the marriage. The new law required that any woman married after the date of enactment who desired to become a citizen must meet the requirements of the naturalization laws. No declaration of intention was needed, however, and the period of required residence was reduced from 5 years to 1 year."

http://www.colorado.gov/dpa/doit/archives/natinfo.htm

Which doesn't explain how in 1865 Bridget could be listed as an alien and James be a naturalized citizen.

Followers

Kathleen O'Hara is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.